Yesterday, our Western Region successfully loaded and shipped two containers to Libya. These containers represent our 8th and 9th shipments to Libya.

Community volunteers, guests and MedShare staff all took great pride in being a part of this momentous day. We shared with those gathered the importance of the medical supplies and equipment being sent to the Libyan people.

Staff and volunteers with the shipment

Boxes loaded on the container

Loading the container

Container #8

We send our best wishes to those hospitals, and the medical professionals and care-givers that will be receiving and using this humanitarian aid.

This shipment represented a milestone achievement for MedShare as it was our 700th container of humanitarian relief shipped. Hospitals throughout Libya are dealing with a humanitarian catastrophe as they are running short on critically needed medical supplies. The container was sponsored by HOPE International Relief & Development Agency (USA) based out of Columbus, Ohio. I-GO Aid Foundation, based in Malta, Libya, will coordinate delivery of the supplies and equipment to hospitals in Libya. This marked the fourth shipment we’ve sent to hospitals in Libya collaborating with these partners.

Roper St. Francis Healthcare (RSFH), a Charleston, South Carolina based healthcare system, partnered with us to send humanitarian aid to Plateau Mission Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. This effort is RSFH’s second to improve the Plateau Community, their first being the provision of a safe water system in 2009. For RSFH’s “Hands Across the Water” project, employees, physicians and volunteers came together to raise more than $27,000. The 1,000 boxes of medical supplies, supplemented with biomedical equipment and durable medical goods, will support Plateau Mission Hospital’s capable professionals and strong leadership by enabling them to provide better healthcare to the community it serves. For more information, click here.

icddr,b, a leading international health research institution, has partnered with MedShare and another charity to support a large network of hospitals in Bangladesh by increasing quality of care and in-kind contributions of key medical supplies. The commitment, announced at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, will lead to the distribution of nearly $8 million worth of donated medicines and supplies and will establish best practice guidelines for patient care and treatment. The commitment will be operated and managed by icddr,b, which is providing medical professionals to oversee the training of over 7,600 employees at 12 hospitals as well as distributing the donated medical products.

On Friday, September 2nd, MedShare celebrated a milestone achievement: we shipped our 700th container of humanitarian aid. This shipment paid tribute to A.B. Short and Bob Freeman’s founding vision, and celebrated the success of our past 13 years, during which we’ve shipped over $93 million worth of medical supplies and equipment to 88 developing countries and territories around the world. In the process, over 2 million cubic feet of space has been saved from landfills, as well as millions of lives around the world.

The container was sent from our Western Region Distribution and Volunteer Center in Northern California, and will benefit beleaguered hospitals in Misrata, Libya.

Turn-out at the ceremony was fitting for an event of this magnitude: Mr. Homdi Soliman, Operation Director of HOPE International Relief & Development Agency and sponsor, Dr. Heshaam Fallah, a Libyan-American physician with Kaiser Permanente and project coordinator, the Chief Medical Officer from Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente representatives, a Council Member from the City of San Leandro, MedShare Trustees and Regional Council members, and many of our volunteers were in attendance. Mr. Soliman and Dr. Fallah spoke about the grave healthcare situation in Libya, and Mary Bersot, Trustee and Western Region Council Chair, shared her appreciation to our staff and volunteers.

“It has been an exceptional experience working with MedShare and all their staff throughout the Libyan conflict. With their extraordinary service and vision, we were able to help save the lives of thousands of men, women, and children,” said Homdi Soliman, Operation Director of HOPE.

The container was sponsored by HOPE International Relief & Development Agency (USA)based out of Columbus, Ohio. I-GO Aid Foundation, based in Malta, Libya, will coordinate delivery of the supplies and equipment to hospitals in Libya. The 1,000 boxes of medical supplies we sent were supplemented with biomedical equipment and durable medical goods, including hospital beds, gurneys, exam lights, exam tables, a ventilator for pediatric and adult patients, surgical packs, syringes, gloves and oxygen masks. Hospitals throughout Libya are dealing with a humanitarian catastrophe, as they are running short on critically needed medical supplies. This marked the fourth shipment we’ve sent to hospitals in Libyacollaborating with these partners.

We must give credit where credit is due: MedShare wouldn’t be celebrating this milestone achievement were it not for our wonderful community. For those that support MedShare through your gift of time, in-kind or financial donations or community advocacy, we thank you for all that you do, and ask that you continue helping us bridge the gap between surplus and need. With your partnership, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and we look forward to celebrating our 1,000th, 2,500th, and 5,000th container shipments with you!

On June 29, 2011, we shipped a container of medical supplies and equipment for emergency relief to Tripoli Central Hospital in Libya. This was the first of six projects generously sponsored by the HOPE International Relief and Development Agency, a non-profit that has set up a special Libyan Relief Fund with the objective of providing emergency aid to Libyan people facing violence and medical and food supply shortages.

The container arrived yesterday, and they kindly sent photos of its arrival and unloading that we wanted to share with you. See below:

Arrival of container

Libyans with the container

Prior to unloading

Unloaded boxes

Boxes

Thanks to all those who helped make this shipment possible. We are hopeful these supplies will indeed benefit those suffering in Libya.

Here at MedShare, we’ve been busy bees preparing and sending off shipments! In fact, in the last few days of August, we sent 5 containers out. This is amazing in terms of staff efficiency, especially when compared to the fact that in 1999, we shipped only one container the whole year! Even more incredible, of course, is the impact it will have in recipient countries.

Read along to find out where these containers were shipped…

1. Ghana

Volunteers listen as Mme. Nell Diallo speaks about the region of Kumasi, Ghana

MedShare to host a formal shipment ceremony for its 700th aid container to beleaguered hospitals in Libya on Friday, September 2nd.

For 13 years, award-winning nonprofit MedShare has bridged the gap between surplus and need by recovering and redistributing surplus medical supplies and equipment from hospitals and medical companies to needy health facilities around the world. On September 2nd at 9:30 a.m., the organization will celebrate its 700th container shipment of humanitarian aid with a formal ceremony. The container will be sent to benefit beleaguered hospitals in Libya.

The container is sponsored by HOPE International Relief & Development Agency (USA) based out of Columbus, Ohio. I-GO Aid Foundation, based in Malta, Libya, will be coordinating delivery of the supplies and equipment to hospitals in Libya. Among the over 1,000 medical supplies and equipment that will be sent are hospital beds, gurneys, exam lights, exam tables, a ventilator for pediatric and adult patients, surgical packs, syringes, gloves and oxygen masks. Hospitals throughout Libya are dealing with a humanitarian catastrophe, as they are running short on critically needed medical supplies.

“It has been an exceptional experience working with MedShare and all their staff throughout the Libyan conflict. With their extraordinary service and vision, we were able to help save the lives of thousands of men, women, and children,” said Homdi Soliman, Operation Director of HOPE.

In its 13-year history, MedShare has shipped over $93 million worth of medical supplies and equipment in 700 tractor-trailer size containers to 88 developing countries and territories around the world. In the process, the organization has saved over 2 million cubic feet of space from landfills, and millions of lives. This will be MedShare’s fourth shipment to hospitals in Libya collaborating with these partners.

“It’s truly remarkable what MedShare has accomplished over the past 13 years. Our success is tied directly to the strategic partnerships that we have cultivated over the years,” said Meridith Rentz, CEO of MedShare. “We are proud to send over 1,000 medical items to those in Libya that have been dramatically impacted by the turmoil in that country.”

I-GO Aid Foundation is a nonprofit organization that delivers much needed medical and food supplies to the Libyan people, specifically those in cut-off coastal areas of the country. HOPE International Relief & Development Agency is an American non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to easing the hardships of the disadvantaged, displaced, and misfortunate people of the world through programs that provide food, shelter, education, and financial means and incentives to start small businesses and industries that could serve as permanent sources of income.

“I am driven by the simple desire to do anything I can to help the thousands of Libyans that are suffering every day,” said Dr. Heshaam Fallah, a Libyan-American physician with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA and primary coordinator of MedShare’s four aid shipments to Libya.

The aid shipment ceremony offers a TV and photo opportunity for the media as MedShare celebrates the impact of their mission through the formal send-off of its 700th shipment of medical supplies and equipment. The event is scheduled for Friday, September 2 at 9:30 a.m. at MedShare located at 2937 Alvarado St, San Leandro, Calif.